Final answer:
20160 distinct words can be formed from the letters in the word 'multiply', considering that the letter 'p' appears twice. The calculation is based on permutations, dividing the factorial of the number of letters by the factorial of the number of repetitions of 'p'.
Step-by-step explanation:
The number of distinct words that can be formed from the letters in the word "multiply" can be calculated using the concept of permutations. The word multiply has 8 letters, but the letter 'p' appears twice, hence we correct for this repetition by dividing by 2! (the factorial of the number of times 'p' appears).
The formula for permutations of n items, where one item is repeated 'p' times is:
n! / p!
In this case, it would be:
8! / 2! = (8×7×6×5×4×3×2×1) / (2×1) = 40320 / 2 = 20160